Systems, devices, and methods effected in response to establishing and/or terminating a physical communications link

ABSTRACT

Systems, devices, and methods that are effected in or by an electronic device in response to establishing and/or terminating a physical communications link are described. An electronic device may be entered into deep sleep and may include a power control circuit that activates the device out of deep sleep in response to establishing a physical communications link with a source of electric power, such as another electronic device. Either in combination with or separate from this, an electronic device may establish wireless communications with another electronic device in response to establishing and terminating a physical communications link with the other electronic device. The physical communications link may be used to transfer device identity data from one device to the other and thereby bypass the cumbersome “discovery” process common to conventional wireless communication techniques. Portable electronic devices and personal computing devices that are operative to perform the above are described.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present systems, devices, and methods generally relate to portableelectronic devices and particularly relate to triggering specificactions of a portable electronic device in response toestablishing/terminating a physical communications link at a tetheredconnector port of the portable electronic device.

Description of the Related Art Portable and Wearable Electronic Devices

Electronic devices are commonplace throughout most of the world today.Advancements in integrated circuit technology have enabled thedevelopment of electronic devices that are sufficiently small andlightweight to be carried by the user. Such “portable” electronicdevices may include on-board power supplies (such as batteries or otherpower storage systems) and may be designed to operate without anywire-connections to other electronic systems; however, a small andlightweight electronic device may still be considered portable even ifit includes a wire-connection to another electronic system. For example,a microphone may be considered a portable electronic device whether itis operated wirelessly or through a wire-connection.

The convenience afforded by the portability of electronic devices hasfostered a huge industry. Smartphones, audio players, laptop computers,tablet computers, and ebook readers are all examples of portableelectronic devices. However, the convenience of being able to carry aportable electronic device has also introduced the inconvenience ofhaving one's hand(s) encumbered by the device itself. This problem isaddressed by making an electronic device not only portable, butwearable.

A wearable electronic device is any portable electronic device that auser can carry without physically grasping, clutching, or otherwiseholding onto the device with their hands. For example, a wearableelectronic device may be attached or coupled to the user by a strap orstraps, a band or bands, a clip or clips, an adhesive, a pin and clasp,an article of clothing, tension or elastic support, an interference fit,an ergonomic form, etc. Examples of wearable electronic devices includedigital wristwatches, electronic armbands, electronic rings, electronicankle-bracelets or “anklets,” head-mounted electronic display units,hearing aids, and so on.

Wireless Communications

As described above, a portable electronic device may be designed tooperate, at least in some modes, without any wire-connections to otherelectronic devices. The exclusion of external wire-connections enhancesthe portability of a portable electronic device. In order to interactwith other electronic devices in the absence of externalwire-connections, portable electronic devices (i.e., wearable orotherwise) commonly employ wireless communication techniques. A personof skill in the art will be familiar with common wireless communicationprotocols, such as Bluetooth®, ZigBee®, WiFi®, Near Field Communication(NFC), and the like.

There are specific challenges that arise in wireless communications thatare not encountered in wire-based communications. For example,establishing a direct and isolated communicative link (i.e., a“connection” or a “communications session”) between two electronicdevices is quite straightforward in wire-based communications: connect afirst end of a wire to a first device and a second end of the wire to asecond device. Conversely, the same thing is much less straightforwardin wireless communications. Wireless signals are typically broadcast outin the open and may impinge upon any and all electronic devices withinrange. In order to limit a wireless connection to be between specificelectronic devices (e.g., between a specific pair of electronicdevices), the wireless signals themselves are typically configured,through a lengthy process, to be receivable, accessible, or usable byonly the specific device(s) by which the signals are intended to bereceived. For example, wireless signals may be encrypted and an intendedreceiving device may be configured to decrypt the signals, and/orwireless signals may be appended with “device ID” information (i.e., anidentifier that identifies the intended receiving device) that causesonly the device bearing the matching “device ID” to respond to thewireless signal. This signal configuration process is lengthy at leastin part because it is all done wirelessly, beginning with wirelesssignals that are accessible by all devices within range and graduallyevolving towards wireless signals that are only accessible (withoutreverse engineering) by the specific devices involved in the wirelessconnection.

Wireless connections are advantageous in portable electronic devicesbecause wireless connections enable a portable electronic device tointeract with a wide variety of other devices without being encumberedby wire connections. In other words, wireless connections enhance theportability of a portable electronic device. However, significant signalpreparation is usually necessary in order to establish a wirelesscommunications session between two electronic devices. This isespecially true for the first time two electronic devices wirelesslycommunicate with one another. Typically, establishing a new wirelessconnection requires the user to manually enter a first device into a“discoverable mode” in which the first device wirelessly transmitsinformation about itself and manually enter a second device into a“discovery mode” in which the second device searches for wirelesssignals from other devices that are in discoverable mode. This discoveryprocess is unduly time consuming and can become frustrating for the userwhen, for example, the second device is not able to discover the firstdevice. The advantages of device portability and communicativeversatility afforded by wireless connections are diminished by theextended effort that is often required to establish a new wirelesscommunications session. There remains a need in the art for systems,devices, and methods that facilitate the establishing of wirelesscommunications.

BRIEF SUMMARY

A method of establishing wireless communications between a firstelectronic device and a second electronic device may be summarized asincluding: receiving by the second electronic device from the firstelectronic device, via a physical communications link between the firstand the second electronic devices, a first identifier that identifiesthe first electronic device; in response to a termination of thephysical communications link between the first and the second electronicdevices, wirelessly transmitting by the second electronic device arequest to initiate a wireless communications session, wherein therequest to initiate a wireless communications session includes arepresentation of the first identifier that identifies the firstelectronic device; and establishing the wireless communications sessionwith the first electronic device by the second electronic device. Themethod may further include transmitting electric power from the secondelectronic device to the first electronic device via the physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devices;and causing the first electronic device to wake from a deep sleep mode.

Receiving by the second electronic device from the first electronicdevice, via a physical communications link between the first and thesecond electronic devices, a first identifier that identifies the firstelectronic device may include retrieving the first identifier by thesecond electronic device from a non-transitory storage medium of thefirst electronic device via the physical communications link between thefirst and the second electronic devices. Receiving by the secondelectronic device from the first electronic device, via a physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devices,a first identifier that identifies the first electronic device mayinclude receiving by the second electronic device from the firstelectronic device, via a physical communications link between the firstand the second electronic devices, a media access control (“MAC”)address of the first electronic device.

The method may further include wirelessly receiving by the secondelectronic device an acceptance of the request to initiate the wirelesscommunications session by the first electronic device based on inclusionof the first identifier that identifies the first electronic device inthe request to initiate the wireless communications session. Receivingby the second electronic device from the first electronic device, via aphysical communications link between the first and the second electronicdevices, a first identifier that identifies the first electronic devicemay include receiving by the second electronic device from the firstelectronic device, via the physical communications link between thefirst and the second electronic devices, the first identifier thatidentifies the first electronic device in response to an establishing ofthe physical communications link between the first and the secondelectronic devices.

A method of initiating wireless communications with a first electronicdevice by a second electronic device may be summarized as including: inresponse to an establishing of a physical communications link betweenthe first and the second electronic devices, receiving by the secondelectronic device from the first electronic device, via the physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devices,a first identifier that identifies the first electronic device; and inresponse to a termination of the physical communications link betweenthe first and the second electronic devices, wirelessly transmitting bythe second electronic device a request to initiate a wirelesscommunications session, wherein the request to initiate a wirelesscommunications session includes a representation of the first identifierthat identifies the first electronic device. The method may furtherinclude transmitting electric power from the second electronic device tothe first electronic device via the physical communications link betweenthe first and the second electronic devices; and causing the firstelectronic device to wake from a deep sleep mode.

Receiving by the second electronic device from the first electronicdevice, via the physical communications link between the first and thesecond electronic devices, a first identifier that identifies the firstelectronic device may include retrieving the first identifier by thesecond electronic device from a non-transitory storage medium of thefirst electronic device via the physical communications link between thefirst and the second electronic devices. Receiving by the secondelectronic device from the first electronic device, via the physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devices,a first identifier that identifies the first electronic device mayinclude receiving by the second electronic device from the firstelectronic device, via the physical communications link between thefirst and the second electronic devices, a media access control (“MAC”)address of the first electronic device.

An electronic device may be summarized as including: a tetheredconnector port; a wireless transceiver; a processor; and anon-transitory processor-readable storage medium communicatively coupledto each of the tethered connector port, the wireless transceiver, andthe processor, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable storagemedium stores processor-executable wireless communications initiationinstructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the electronicdevice to: receive by the tethered connector port, via a physicalcommunications link between the electronic device and another electronicdevice, an identifier that identifies the other electronic device; inresponse to a termination of the physical communications link betweenthe electronic device and the other electronic device, wirelesslytransmit by the wireless transceiver a request to initiate a wirelesscommunications session with the other electronic device, wherein therequest to initiate a wireless communications session includes arepresentation of the identifier that identifies the other electronicdevice; and establish the wireless communications session with the otherelectronic device. The electronic device may further include a secondtethered connector port and the wireless transceiver may be plugged into the second tethered connector port. The processor-executable wirelesscommunication initiation instructions that, when executed by theprocessor, cause the electronic device to receive by the tetheredconnector port, via a physical communications link between theelectronic device and another electronic device, an identifier thatidentifies the other electronic device, may cause the electronic deviceto retrieve, via the physical communications link between the electronicdevice and another electronic device, the identifier that identifies theother electronic device.

A method of establishing wireless communications between a firstelectronic device and a second electronic device may be summarized asincluding: providing by the first electronic device to the secondelectronic device, via a physical communications link between the firstand the second electronic devices, a first identifier that identifiesthe first electronic device; in response to a termination of thephysical communications link between the first and the second electronicdevices, wirelessly receiving by the first electronic device from thesecond electronic device a request to initiate a wireless communicationssession, wherein the request to initiate a wireless communicationssession includes a representation of the first identifier thatidentifies the first electronic device; and establishing the wirelesscommunications session with the second electronic device by the firstelectronic device. The method may further include receiving electricpower from the second electronic device by the first electronic devicevia the physical communications link between the first and the secondelectronic devices; and in response to receiving electric power from thesecond electronic device by the first electronic device via the physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devices,waking from a deep sleep mode by the first electronic device.

Providing by the first electronic device to the second electronicdevice, via a physical communications link between the first and thesecond electronic devices, a first identifier that identifies the firstelectronic device may include providing the second electronic deviceaccess to a non-transitory storage medium of the first electronic devicevia the physical communications link between the first and the secondelectronic devices. Providing by the first electronic device to thesecond electronic device, via a physical communications link between thefirst and the second electronic devices, a first identifier thatidentifies the first electronic device may include providing by thefirst electronic device to the second electronic device, via a physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devices,a media access control (“MAC”) address of the first electronic device.Establishing the wireless communications session with the secondelectronic device by the first electronic device may include wirelesslytransmitting by the first electronic device an acceptance of the requestto initiate the wireless communications session by the first electronicdevice based on inclusion of the first identifier that identifies thefirst electronic device in the request to initiate the wirelesscommunications session. Providing by the first electronic device to thesecond electronic device, via a physical communications link between thefirst and the second electronic devices, a first identifier thatidentifies the first electronic device may include providing by thefirst electronic device to the second electronic device, via thephysical communications link between the first and the second electronicdevices, the first identifier that identifies the first electronicdevice in response to an establishing of the physical communicationslink between the first and the second electronic devices.

An electronic device may be summarized as including: a tetheredconnector port; a wireless transceiver; a processor; and anon-transitory processor-readable storage medium communicatively coupledto the processor and at least the tethered connector port, wherein thenon-transitory processor-readable storage medium stores i) an identifierthat identifies the electronic device, and ii) processor-executablewireless communication instructions that, when executed by theprocessor, cause the electronic device to: provide another electronicdevice, via a physical communications link between the electronic deviceand the other electronic device, the identifier that identifies theelectronic device; in response to a termination of the physicalcommunications link between the electronic device and the otherelectronic device, wirelessly receive from the other electronic device arequest to initiate a wireless communications session, wherein therequest to initiate a wireless communications session includes arepresentation of the identifier that identifies the electronic device;and establish the wireless communications session with the otherelectronic device. The processor-executable wireless communicationinstructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the electronicdevice to provide another electronic device, via a physicalcommunications link between the electronic device and the otherelectronic device, the identifier that identifies the electronic devicemay cause, when executed by the processor, the electronic device toprovide the other electronic device with access to the non-transitoryprocessor-readable storage medium that stores the identifier thatidentifies the electronic device. The processor-executable wirelesscommunication instructions, when executed by the processor, may furthercause the electronic device to: wirelessly transmit an acceptance of therequest to initiate the wireless communications session based oninclusion of the identifier that identifies the electronic device in therequest to initiate the wireless communications session.

The electronic device may include a device selected from the groupconsisting of: a portable electronic device and a wearable electronicdevice. The identifier that identifies the electronic device may includea media access control (“MAC”) address of the electronic device.

A method of establishing wireless communications between a firstelectronic device and a second electronic device may be summarized asincluding: providing by the first electronic device to the secondelectronic device, via a physical communications link between the firstand the second electronic devices, access to a first identifier thatidentifies the first electronic device; receiving by the secondelectronic device from the first electronic device, via the physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devices,the first identifier that identifies the first electronic device; inresponse to a termination of the physical communications link betweenthe first and the second electronic devices, wirelessly transmitting bythe second electronic device a request to initiate a wirelesscommunications session, wherein the request to initiate a wirelesscommunications session includes a representation of the first identifierthat identifies the first electronic device; wirelessly receiving therequest to initiate the wireless communications session by the firstelectronic device; in response to wirelessly receiving the request toinitiate the wireless communications session by the first electronicdevice and based on inclusion of the representation of the firstidentifier that identifies the first electronic device in the request toinitiate a wireless communications session, wirelessly transmitting bythe first electronic device an acceptance of the request to initiate thewireless communications session; wirelessly receiving the acceptance ofthe request to initiate the wireless communications session by thesecond electronic device; and in response to wirelessly receiving theacceptance of the request to initiate the wireless communicationssession by the second electronic device, establishing the wirelesscommunications session between the first electronic device and thesecond electronic device.

The method may further include transmitting electric power from thesecond electronic device via the physical communications link betweenthe first and the second electronic devices; receiving electric power bythe first electronic device via the physical communications link betweenthe first and the second electronic devices; and in response toreceiving electric power by the first electronic device via the physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devices,waking from a deep sleep mode by the first electronic device. Providingby the first electronic device to the second electronic device, via aphysical communications link between the first and the second electronicdevices, a first identifier that identifies the first electronic devicemay include providing by the first electronic device to the secondelectronic device, via the physical communications link between thefirst and the second electronic devices, the first identifier thatidentifies the first electronic device in response to an establishing ofthe physical communications link between the first and the secondelectronic devices.

A method of activating a portable electronic device out of deep sleep,wherein the portable electronic device includes a processor, a powerstorage component; a switch communicatively coupleable to both theprocessor and the power storage component and which is controllablyswitchable between a first state in which the power storage componentand the processor are communicatively isolated from one another and asecond state in which the power storage component and the processor arecommunicatively coupled to one another, and a tethered connector portcommunicatively coupled to the processor, and wherein the portableelectronic device is in a deep sleep mode in which i) the power storagecomponent is at least partially charged, and ii) the switch is in thefirst state in which the power storage component and the processor arecommunicatively isolated from one another, may be summarized asincluding: in response to an establishing of a physical communicationslink between the tethered connector port and a source of electric power,triggering the switch into the second state in which the power storagecomponent and the processor are communicatively coupled to one another.The portable electronic device may include a wireless transceiver andthe source of electric power may include another electronic device, andthe method may further include providing by the portable electronicdevice to the other electronic device, via the physical communicationslink between the portable electronic device and the other electronicdevice, an identifier that identifies the portable electronic device.The method may further include: in response to a termination of thephysical communications link between the portable electronic device andthe other electronic device, wirelessly receiving by the portableelectronic device from the other electronic device a request to initiatea wireless communications session, wherein the request to initiate awireless communications session includes a representation of theidentifier that identifies the portable electronic device; andestablishing the wireless communications session with the otherelectronic device by the portable electronic device.

A portable electronic device may be summarized as including a processor;a power storage component, wherein the power storage component is atleast partially charged and the power storage component and theprocessor are communicatively isolated from one another; a tetheredconnector port; and a power control circuit that communicatively couplesto the processor, the power storage component, and the tetheredconnector port, wherein the power control circuit includes at least oneswitch, and wherein in response to an establishing of a physicalcommunications link between the tethered connector port and a source ofelectric power, the at least one switch communicatively couples theprocessor and the power storage component to one another. The portableelectronic device may include a wearable electronic device. The portableelectronic device may further include: a non-transitory storage mediumcommunicatively coupled to at least the first tethered connector port,wherein the non-transitory storage medium stores an identifier thatidentifies the portable electronic device, and wherein in response tothe establishing of the physical communications link between thetethered connector port and the source of electric power, the portableelectronic device provides the identifier via the physicalcommunications link.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, identical reference numbers identify similar elementsor acts. The sizes and relative positions of elements in the drawingsare not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the shapes of variouselements and angles are not necessarily drawn to scale, and some ofthese elements are arbitrarily enlarged and positioned to improvedrawing legibility. Further, the particular shapes of the elements asdrawn are not necessarily intended to convey any information regardingthe actual shape of the particular elements, and have been solelyselected for ease of recognition in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a flow-diagram showing a method of establishing wirelesscommunications between a first electronic device and a second electronicdevice in accordance with the present systems, devices, and methods,from the point of view of the first electronic device.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an exemplary wearable gestureidentification device that is well-suited to serve as the “firstelectronic device” in the method from FIG. 1 and performs the actstherefrom in order to establish a wireless communications session inaccordance with the present systems, devices, and methods.

FIG. 3 is a flow-diagram showing a method of establishing wirelesscommunications between a first electronic device and a second electronicdevice in accordance with the present systems, devices, and methods,from the point of view of the second electronic device.

FIG. 4 is a flow-diagram showing a method of initiating wirelesscommunications with a first electronic device by a second electronicdevice in accordance with the present systems, devices, and methods.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an electronic system that, in use,implements any or all of the methods from FIG. 1, FIG. 3, and/or FIG. 4to establish wireless communications between two electronic devices inaccordance with the present systems, devices, and methods.

FIG. 6 is a flow-diagram showing a method of establishing wirelesscommunications between a first electronic device and a second electronicdevice in accordance with the present systems, devices, and methods.

FIG. 7 is a flow-diagram showing a method of activating a portableelectronic device out of deep sleep in accordance with the presentsystems, devices and methods.

FIG. 8 is an illustrative schematic diagram of a power control circuitthat substantially autonomously activates an electronic device out ofdeep sleep in response to an establishing of a physical communicationslink with a source of electric power in accordance with the presentsystems, devices, and methods.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, certain specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of various disclosedembodiments. However, one skilled in the relevant art will recognizethat embodiments may be practiced without one or more of these specificdetails, or with other methods, components, materials, etc. In otherinstances, well-known structures associated with electronic devices, andin particular portable electronic devices such as wearable electronicdevices, have not been shown or described in detail to avoidunnecessarily obscuring descriptions of the embodiments.

Unless the context requires otherwise, throughout the specification andclaims which follow, the word “comprise” and variations thereof, suchas, “comprises” and “comprising” are to be construed in an open,inclusive sense, that is as “including, but not limited to.”

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” means that a particular feature, structures, orcharacteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments.

As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singularforms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the contentclearly dictates otherwise. It should also be noted that the term “or”is generally employed in its broadest sense, that is as meaning “and/or”unless the content clearly dictates otherwise.

The headings and Abstract of the Disclosure provided herein are forconvenience only and do not interpret the scope or meaning of theembodiments.

Portable electronic devices are ubiquitous throughout the world today,and the portability of such devices is significantly enhanced by theability to communicate with other devices via wireless connections.However, the process of establishing a wireless connection is typicallyslow, cumbersome, and requires specific input(s) from the user. Asdescribed previously, the difficulty of establishing wirelessconnections by conventional, wireless means is due, at least in part, tothe need to transition from an open, public “discovery” mode to aclosed, private “paired” or “connected” mode via only the exchange ofwireless signals. The various embodiments described herein providesystems, devices, and methods that initiate wireless communicationssessions between electronic devices easily, securely, and substantiallyautonomously in response to establishing and then terminating a physicalcommunications link therebetween.

Throughout this specification and the appended claims, the terms“wireless connection” and “wireless communications session” are used,substantially interchangeably, to refer to a direct communicative linkbetween at least two electronic devices that employs one or morewireless communication protocol(s), such as Bluetooth®, ZigBee®, WiFi®,Near Field Communication (NFC), or similar. In the art, a wirelessconnection or communications session is typically established bycommunicatively linking two devices through a process called “pairing.”

FIG. 1 is a flow-diagram showing a method 100 of establishing wirelesscommunications between a first electronic device and a second electronicdevice in accordance with the present systems, devices, and methods,from the point of view of the first electronic device. Advantageously,the first electronic device is a portable electronic device (e.g., awearable electronic device) and the second electronic device is orincludes an electronic receiver or electronic receiving device.Throughout this specification and the appended claims, the terms“electronic receiver” and “electronic receiving device” are usedsubstantially interchangeably to denote any electronic device thatincludes at least a wireless receiver (e.g., as part of a wirelesstransceiver) that, in use, receives wireless signals. As used herein, anelectronic receiving device supports at least wireless receivingfunctionality and may, in addition, include any number of additionalfunctionalities including, but not limited to, wireless transmittingfunctionality. Examples of electronic receiving devices that areparticularly well-suited for use as the “second electronic device” inmethod 100 include, without limitation: a laptop computer, a personalcomputer, and/or a desktop computer.

Method 100 includes three acts 101, 102, and 103 (depicted byrectangular boxes in FIG. 1) and one criterion 110 (depicted by arounded box in FIG. 1), where acts 102 and 103 are only performed whencriterion 110 is satisfied. Thus, FIG. 1 depicts an implementation ofmethod 100 for which criterion 110 is satisfied. Those of skill in theart will appreciate that in alternative embodiments certain acts and/orcriteria may be omitted and/or additional acts and/or criteria may beadded. Those of skill in the art will also appreciate that theillustrated order of the acts and criterion is shown for exemplarypurposes only and may change in alternative embodiments.

At 101, the first electronic device (i.e., the portable electronicdevice) provides a first identifier to the second electronic device viaa physical communications link between the first and the secondelectronic devices. The first identifier identifies the first electronicdevice and may include, for example, a media access control (“MAC”)address of the first electronic device (or of a component thereof, suchas a processor thereof). The first identifier may be stored in anon-transitory storage medium or memory of the first electronic deviceand providing the first identifier to the second electronic device at101 may include, for example, providing the second electronic deviceaccess to the non-transitory storage medium where the first identifieris stored via the physical communications link between the first and thesecond electronic devices.

Act 101 begins the process of establishing a wireless connection betweentwo electronic devices by making use of a physical, wired connectionbetween the devices to deliver information relevant to wirelesscommunications. By providing the first identifier via the physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devices,the first electronic device effectively enables the second electronicdevice to “discover” the first electronic device through a wiredconnection as opposed to through a conventional wireless discoveryprocess. Thus, act 101 quickly accomplishes (or even bypasses) at leasta portion of the conventional discovery process and enables the secondelectronic device to immediately transmit wireless signals that areconfigured to be accessed by the first electronic device without thesecond electronic device first having to “wirelessly discover” the firstelectronic device or explore the wireless signal space to pick out andidentify the first electronic device.

Depending on the specific implementation, act 101 may make use of anexisting physical communications link between the first and the secondelectronic devices, or act 101 may be triggered substantiallyautonomously in response to an establishing of (i.e., a formation orcreation of) the physical communications link between the first and thesecond electronic devices. For example, act 101 may be triggeredsubstantially autonomously by the first electronic device in response tothe user plugging a first end of a cable into a tethered connector portof the first electronic device and a second end of the cable into atethered connector port of the second electronic device. The tetheredconnector ports and the cable (i.e., the physical communications link)may take on any of a variety of different forms, including any or all of(e.g., exclusively or in combination): Universal Serial Bus (“USB”)port(s)/cable, mini-USB port(s)/cable, micro-USB port(s)/cable,THUNDERBOLT® port(s)/cable, and the like.

Throughout this specification and the appended claims, the term“autonomously” is used to describe a process that is carried outsubstantially automatically (i.e., without user intervention) by one ormore electronic device(s). Such an autonomous process may, in accordancewith the present systems, devices, and methods, be triggered in responseto one or more condition(s) or criteria being satisfied, and it is to beunderstood that any act(s) involved in satisfying the one or morecondition(s) or criteria may or may not be accomplished autonomously.Returning to the example described above, act 101 of method 100 may beperformed substantially autonomously by the first electronic device inresponse to an establishing of a physical communications link betweenthe first and the second electronic devices. In this scenario, act 101may be performed substantially autonomously by the first electronicdevice even though the act of actually establishing the physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devicesmay itself involve intervention from the user.

At 110, a criterion is specified and this criterion must be met beforemethod 100 proceeds to act 102. The criterion is that the physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devicesmust be terminated. Method 100 only proceeds to acts 102 and 103 inresponse to a termination of the physical communications link betweenthe first and the second electronic devices. While acts 102 and 103 maybe performed substantially autonomously by the first electronic device,criterion 110 may, in some implementations, involve the user physicallyunplugging a cable (e.g., a USB cable) from either or both of the firstand the second electronic devices.

As previously described, FIG. 1 depicts an implementation of method 100in which criterion 110 is satisfied. Accordingly, method 100 proceeds toact 102.

At 102, the first electronic device wirelessly receives a request toinitiate a wireless communications session from the second electronicdevice. The request to initiate a wireless communications sessionincludes a representation of (e.g., the entirety of, or data that isbased on and/or representative of) the first identifier that wasprovided by the first electronic device to the second electronic deviceat 101. For the sake of simplicity, hereafter the term “firstidentifier” is used to encompass the first identifier in its entiretyand a representation of the first identifier comprising data that isbased on and/or representative of the first identifier. In wirelessconnection terms, act 101 enables the first electronic device to bereadily discovered by the second electronic device and at 102 the firstelectronic device receives a request to initiate a wirelesscommunications session because the first electronic device has beendiscovered by the second electronic device. Receipt of the request toinitiate a wireless communications session at 102 is triggered inresponse to a termination of the physical communications link betweenthe first and the second electronic devices because, in commonimplementations, two electronic devices are not typically capable ofsustaining both a wired connection and a wireless connection between oneanother at the same time. However, a person of skill in the art willappreciate that in implementations that are capable of sustainingsimultaneous wired and wireless connections, method 100 may be performedwithout reliance upon (or even the inclusion of) criterion 110.

At 103, the wireless communications session with the second electronicdevice is established by the first electronic device. Establishing thewireless communications session by the first electronic device mayinclude, for example, wirelessly transmitting by the first electronicdevice an acceptance of the request to initiate the wirelesscommunications session, where the acceptance is based on the inclusionof the first identifier in the request to initiate the wirelesscommunications session. Upon acceptance of the request to initiate thewireless communications session, the two electronic devices becomepaired and/or connected and proceed to communicate wirelessly inaccordance with known wireless communication protocols, such asBluetooth®, WiFi®, Zigbee®, or the like.

In principle, method 100 may be carried out using any wirelesslycommunicative electronic device as the first electronic device; however,as will be discussed in more detail later on, method 100 is particularlyadvantageous in implementations in which the first electronic device isa portable electronic device, such as a wearable electronic device. Anexample of a wearable electronic device that is particularly well-suitedto serve the role of the first electronic device in method 100 is nowprovided.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an exemplary wearable gestureidentification device 200 that is well-suited to serve as the “firstelectronic device” in method 100 and performs acts 101, 102, and 103 inorder to establish a wireless communications session in accordance withthe present systems, devices, and methods. Device 200 is an armbanddesigned to be worn on the forearm of a user, though a person of skillin the art will appreciate that the teachings described herein mayreadily be applied in wearable electronic devices designed to be wornelsewhere on the body of the user, including without limitation: on theupper arm, wrist, hand, finger, leg, foot, torso, or neck of the user(or indeed, in non-wearable portable electronic devices and innon-portable electronic devices). Some details that may be included inexemplary wearable gesture identification device 200 are described in atleast U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/186,889 (nowUS Patent Application Publication No. 2014-0240103), U.S.Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/276,575 (now US PatentApplication Publication No. 2014-0334083), U.S. Provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 61/909,786 (now US Patent Application PublicationNo. 2015-0148641), U.S. Provisional Patent Aapplication Ser. No.62/031,651 (now US Patent Application Publication No. 2015-0234426),U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/971,346 (now US PatentApplication Publication No. 2015-0277575), and US Non-Provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 14/465,194 (now US Patent Application PublicationNo. 2015-0057770), each of which is incorporated herein by reference inits entirety. Device 200 is operable to detect, sense, or measure whenthe user performs a physical gesture with the hand or arm upon whichdevice 200 is worn, to identify the user-performed gesture, and towirelessly transmit at least one signal based on the identity of theuser-performed gesture. However, device 200 is used herein only as anillustrative example of a “first electronic device” and details of thegesture identification functionality are outside of the scope of thepresent systems, devices, and methods.

Wearable gesture identification device 200 includes at least the minimumcomponents necessary in order to perform the acts of the “firstelectronic device” in method 100 in accordance with the present systems,devices, and methods. Thus, device 200 includes at least a tetheredconnector port 251 (a micro-USB port in exemplary device 200, thoughillustrated with an insulative plug inserted therein in FIG. 2), awireless transceiver 252, a processor 220, and a non-transitory storagemedium or memory 230 communicatively coupled (either directly or throughone or more intervening communicative couplings) to at least both theprocessor 220 and the tethered connector port 251. Non-transitorystorage medium 230 stores an identifier 231 that identifies device 200(i.e., the first identifier as described in method 100), such as a MACaddress of device 200 or a MAC address of a component of device 200(such as processor 220). Non-transitory storage medium 230 may be orinclude a processor-readable storage medium that storesprocessor-executable wireless communication instructions 232 that, whenexecuted by processor 220, cause device 200 to perform act 101 and,subject to criterion 110, acts 102 and 103 of method 100.

Since exemplary device 200 is a portable electronic device, device 200includes an on-board power storage component 260 (e.g., one or morebatteries) to provide electrical power as needed to port 251,transceiver 252, processor 220, and/or memory 230. Processor 220 may beany type of processor, including but not limited to: a digitalmicroprocessor or microcontroller, an application-specific integratedcircuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signalprocessor (DSP), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a programmable gatearray (PGA), a programmable logic unit (PLU), or the like.

Throughout this specification and the appended claims the term“communicative” as in “communicative pathway,” “communicative coupling,”and in variants such as “communicatively coupled,” is generally used torefer to any engineered arrangement for transferring and/or exchanginginformation. Exemplary communicative pathways include, but are notlimited to, electrically conductive pathways (e.g., electricallyconductive wires, electrically conductive traces), magnetic pathways(e.g., magnetic media), and/or optical pathways (e.g., optical fiber),and exemplary communicative couplings include, but are not limited to,electrical couplings, magnetic couplings, and/or optical couplings.

Method 100 provides an example of a method of establishing a wirelesscommunications session between a first and a second electronic device,specifically from the point of view of the first electronic device.However, a person of skill in the art will appreciate that some actsperformed by the first electronic device in method 100 may be dependentupon or responsive to various acts being performed by the secondelectronic device. Thus, the various embodiments described herein alsoprovide methods of establishing a wireless communications sessionbetween a first and a second electronic device from the point of view ofthe second electronic device.

FIG. 3 is a flow-diagram showing a method 300 of establishing wirelesscommunications between a first electronic device and a second electronicdevice in accordance with the present systems, devices, and methods,from the point of view of the second electronic device. Method 300 maybe viewed as a complement to method 100, where method 300 provides theacts performed by the second electronic device and method 100 providesthe related acts performed by the first electronic device. Thus, many ofthe descriptions of acts 101, 102, and 103, as well as criterion 110,similarly apply in the context of method 300. For example, in method300, the first electronic device may still advantageously include aportable electronic device (e.g., a wearable electronic device) and thesecond electronic device may include an electronic receiving device,such as a laptop computer, a personal computer, and/or a desktopcomputer.

Method 300 includes three acts 301, 302, and 303 (depicted byrectangular boxes in FIG. 3) and one criterion 310 (depicted by arounded box in FIG. 3), where acts 302 and 303 are only performed whencriterion 310 is satisfied. Thus, FIG. 3 depicts an implementation ofmethod 300 for which criterion 310 is satisfied. Those of skill in theart will appreciate that in alternative embodiments certain acts and/orcriteria may be omitted and/or additional acts and/or criteria may beadded. Those of skill in the art will also appreciate that theillustrated order of the acts and criterion is shown for exemplarypurposes only and may change in alternative embodiments.

At 301, the second electronic device (e.g., the personal computingdevice) receives a first identifier from the first electronic device viaa physical communications link between the first and the secondelectronic devices. The first identifier identifies the first electronicdevice and may include, for example, a media access control (“MAC”)address of the first electronic device (or of a component thereof, suchas a processor thereof). As previously described, the first identifiermay be stored in a non-transitory storage medium or memory of the firstelectronic device. In this case, receiving the first identifier from thefirst electronic device at 301 may include, for example, retrieving thefirst identifier by the second electronic device from the non-transitorystorage medium of the first electronic device via the physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devices.

Act 301 begins the process of establishing a wireless connection betweentwo electronic devices by making use of a physical, wired connectionbetween the devices to deliver information relevant to wirelesscommunications. By receiving (e.g., retrieving, as described above) thefirst identifier via the physical communications link between the firstand the second electronic devices, the second electronic deviceeffectively “discovers” the first electronic device through a wiredconnection as opposed to through a conventional wireless discoveryprocess. Thus, act 301 quickly accomplishes (or even bypasses) at leasta portion of the conventional discovery process and enables the secondelectronic device to immediately transmit wireless signals that areconfigured to be accessed by the first electronic device without thesecond electronic device first having to “wirelessly discover” the firstelectronic device or explore the wireless signal space to pick out andidentify the first electronic device.

At 310, a criterion is specified and this criterion must be met beforemethod 300 proceeds to act 302. The criterion is that the physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devicesmust be terminated. Method 300 only proceeds to acts 302 and 303 inresponse to a termination of the physical communications link betweenthe first and the second electronic devices. While acts 302 and 303 maybe performed substantially autonomously by the second electronic device,criterion 310 may, in some implementations, involve the user physicallyunplugging a cable (e.g., a USB cable) from either or both of the firstand/or the second electronic devices.

As previously described, FIG. 3 depicts an implementation of method 300in which criterion 310 is satisfied. Accordingly, method 300 proceeds toact 302.

At 302, the second electronic device wirelessly transmits a request toinitiate a wireless communications session. The request to initiate awireless communications session includes a representation of (e.g., theentirety of, or data that is based on and/or representative of) thefirst identifier that was received by the second electronic device fromthe first electronic device at 301. Because wireless signals aretypically transmitted in multiple directions (e.g., radiated,multicasted, etc.), it may not be technically correct to describe therequest to initiate a wireless communications session as beingtransmitted to the first electronic device by the second electronicdevice; however, the inclusion of the representation of the firstidentifier in the request denotes that the request is intended for thefirst electronic device. In wireless connection terms, act 301 enablesthe second electronic device to readily discover the first electronicdevice and at 302 the second electronic device transmits a request toinitiate a wireless communications session based on having discoveredthe first electronic device. Transmission of the request to initiate awireless communications session at 302 is triggered in response to atermination of the physical communications link between the first andthe second electronic devices because, in common implementations, twoelectronic devices are not typically capable of sustaining both a wiredconnection and a wireless connection between one another at the sametime. However, a person of skill in the art will appreciate that inimplementations that are capable of sustaining simultaneous wired andwireless connections, method 300 may be performed without reliance upon(or even the inclusion of) criterion 310.

In some applications, a user may prefer to manually control when therequest to initiate a wireless communications session is transmitted bythe second electronic device per act 302. In such applications, act 302may not be performed autonomously, but rather act 302 may be manuallytriggered by the user by, for example, having the user click a “connect”button that causes the second electronic device to wirelessly transmit arequest to initiate a wireless communications session with the firstelectronic device. Manual triggering of act 302 may or may not depend oncriterion 310 being satisfied, depending on whether or not the devicesinvolved are capable of simultaneously sustaining a wired connection anda wireless connection with one another.

At 303, the wireless communications session with the first electronicdevice is established by the second electronic device. In someimplementations, the second electronic device may wirelessly receive anacceptance of the request to initiate the wireless communicationssession from the first electronic device (such acceptance being based onthe inclusion of the first identifier in the request to initiate thewireless communications session), and the second electronic device mayestablish the wireless communications session in response to suchacceptance. Upon acceptance of the request to initiate the wirelesscommunications session, the two electronic devices become paired and/orconnected and proceed to communicate wirelessly in accordance with knownwireless communication protocols, such as Bluetooth®, WiFi®, Zigbee®, orthe like.

As described in the context of act 101 of method 100, depending on thespecific implementation, act 301 of method 300 may make use of anexisting physical communications link between the first and the secondelectronic devices, or act 301 of method 300 may be triggeredsubstantially autonomously in response to an establishing of (i.e., aformation or creation of) the physical communications link between thefirst and the second electronic devices. While it is an optional featureof the present systems, devices, and methods for any/all acts of method300 to be carried out substantially autonomously by the secondelectronic device, FIG. 4 clearly illustrates an implementation of acts301 and 302 from method 300 in which such acts are carried outsubstantially autonomously by the second electronic device.

FIG. 4 is a flow-diagram showing a method 400 of initiating wirelesscommunications with a first electronic device by a second electronicdevice in accordance with the present systems, devices, and methods.Method 400 is similar to method 300 from FIG. 3 but is slightly adjustedto emphasize the (optionally) autonomous and responsive nature ofcertain acts performed by the second electronic device. Accordingly,many of the descriptions of acts 301, 302, and 303, as well as criterion310, similarly apply in the context of method 400. For example, inmethod 400, the first electronic device may still advantageously includea portable electronic device (e.g., a wearable electronic device) andthe second electronic device may include an electronic receiving device,such as a laptop computer, a personal computer, and/or a desktopcomputer.

Method 400 includes two acts 401 and 402 (depicted by rectangular boxesin FIG. 4) and two criteria 411 and 412 (depicted by rounded boxes inFIG. 4). Act 401 is only performed when criterion 411 is satisfied andact 402 is only performed when act 401 is performed and criterion 412 issatisfied. Thus, FIG. 4 depicts an implementation of method 400 forwhich criteria 411 and 412 are both satisfied. Those of skill in the artwill appreciate that in alternative embodiments certain acts and/orcriteria may be omitted and/or additional acts and/or criteria may beadded. Those of skill in the art will also appreciate that theillustrated order of the acts and criteria is shown for exemplarypurposes only and may change in alternative embodiments.

At 411, a criterion is specified and this criterion must be met beforemethod 400 proceeds to act 401. The criterion is that a physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devicesmust be established. Method 400 only proceeds to act 401 in response toan establishing of a physical communications link between the first andthe second electronic devices. Thus, act 401 may be performedsubstantially autonomously by the second electronic device in responseto, for example, a user physically plugging a cable (e.g., a USB cable)into the respective tethered connector ports of both of the first andthe second electronic devices.

As previously described, FIG. 4 depicts an implementation of method 400in which criterion 411 is satisfied. Accordingly, method 400 proceeds toact 401.

At 401, the second electronic device (e.g., the personal computingdevice) receives a first identifier from the first electronic device viaa physical communications link between the first and the secondelectronic devices. The first identifier identifies the first electronicdevice and may include, for example, a media access control (“MAC”)address of the first electronic device (or of a component thereof, suchas a processor thereof). As previously described, the first identifiermay be stored in a non-transitory storage medium or memory of the firstelectronic device. In this case, receiving the first identifier from thefirst electronic device at 401 may include, for example, retrieving thefirst identifier by the second electronic device from the non-transitorystorage medium of the first electronic device via the physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devices,substantially autonomously in response to an establishing of thephysical communications link per criterion 411.

At 412, a criterion is specified and this criterion must be met beforemethod 400 proceeds to act 402. The criterion is that the physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devicesmust be terminated. Method 400 only proceeds to act 402 in response to atermination of the physical communications link between the first andthe second electronic devices. Thus, act 402 may be performedsubstantially autonomously by the second electronic device in responseto, for example, a user physically unplugging the cable (e.g., the USBcable) from either or both of the first and the second electronicdevices.

As previously described, FIG. 4 depicts an implementation of method 400in which criterion 412 is satisfied. Accordingly, method 400 proceeds toact 402.

At 402, the second electronic device wirelessly transmits a request toinitiate a wireless communications session. The request to initiate awireless communications session includes a representation of (e.g., theentirety of, or data that is based on and/or representative of) thefirst identifier that was received by the second electronic device fromthe first electronic device at 401. Transmission of the request toinitiate a wireless communications session at 402 is triggeredsubstantially autonomously by the second electronic device in responseto a termination of the physical communications link between the firstand the second electronic devices per criterion 412. With thetransmission of the request, wireless communications are effectively“initiated” by the second electronic device and the first and secondelectronic devices may proceed to “establish” a wireless communicationssession as described in either or both of methods 100 and/or 300.

In principle, method 400 may be carried out using any wirelesslycommunicative electronic device as the second electronic device;however, method 400 is particularly advantageous in implementations inwhich the first electronic device is a portable electronic device, suchas a wearable electronic device, and the second electronic device is apersonal computing device, such as a laptop computer or a desktopcomputer. An illustrative example of an interaction between a wearableelectronic device (i.e., a first electronic device) and a personalcomputing device (i.e., a second electronic device) that results inestablishing a wireless communications session between the two devicesin accordance with the present systems, devices, and methods is nowprovided.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an electronic system 500 that, in use,implements any or all of methods 100, 300, and/or 400 to establishwireless communications between two electronic devices in accordancewith the present systems, devices, and methods. Electronic system 500includes a first electronic device 501 a and a second electronic device501 b. First electronic device 501 a is a portable electronic devicesubstantially similar to wearable gesture identification device 200 fromFIG. 2 and may perform any or all of the acts attributed to the “firstelectronic device” in method 100. To this end, portable electronicdevice 501 a includes a tethered connector port 551 a, a wirelesstransceiver 552 a, and a non-transitory storage medium or memory 530 athat stores at least an identifier 531 a (such as a MAC address) thatidentifies portable electronic device 501 a. Portable electronic device501 a may or may not include a processor and any or all of tetheredconnector port 551 a, wireless transceiver 552 a, memory 530 a, and/oran on-board processor (if included) may be communicatively coupled withone another.

Second electronic device 501 b is a personal computing device (e.g., alaptop computer or a desktop computer) and may perform any or all of theacts attributed to the “second electronic device” in methods 300 and/or400. Personal computing device 501 b includes at least the minimumcomponents necessary in order to carry out the acts attributed to “thesecond electronic device” in methods 300 and/or 400. Specifically,personal computing device 501 b includes a tethered connector port 551b, a wireless transceiver 552 b, a processor 520 b, and a non-transitoryprocessor-readable storage medium or memory 530 b that stores at leastprocessor-executable wireless communication instructions 531 b.Instructions 531 b may be executed by processor 520 b to cause personalcomputing device 501 b to perform any or all of the acts associated withthe second electronic device in methods 300 and/or 400. Any or all oftethered connector port 551 b, wireless transceiver 552 b, processor 520b, and/or memory 530 b may be communicatively coupled with one another.Other components that are typically associated with a personal computingdevice, such as a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse or touchpad, and so on,may be included in personal computing device 501 b but are notillustrated in FIG. 5 to reduce clutter.

Some personal computing devices do not include a wireless transceiver,or may include a wireless transceiver that is not compatible with aparticular wireless communications protocol (such as Bluetooth LowEnergy). In such situations, wireless transceiver 551 b may be in theform of a discrete component (such as a Bluetooth adapter or “dongle”)that is communicatively coupled to personal computing device 501 b via asecond tethered connector port of personal computing device 501 b (e.g.,via a USB port).

In exemplary system 500, the tethered connector port 551 a of portableelectronic device 501 a is a micro-USB port and the tethered connectorport 551 b of personal computing device 501 b is a USB port. System 500also includes a USB cable 590 having a micro-USB connector to mate withmicro-USB port 551 a and a USB connector to mate with USB port 551 b.USB cable 590 provides an example of the “physical communications link”described in methods 100, 300, and 400 and thus insertion and removal ofthe respective connectors of cable 590 into/out of ports 551 a and 551 bmay be integral in triggering certain acts involved in establishingwireless communications between devices 501 a and 501 b per the presentsystems, devices, and methods.

As described previously, portable electronic device 501 a may beoperative to establish wireless communications with personal computingdevice 501 b by performing the acts of method 100, and likewise personalcomputing device 501 b may be operative to establish or at leastinitiate wireless communications with portable electronic device 501 aby performing the acts of method 300 and/or method 400. Most generally,both portable electronic device 501 a (i.e., the first electronicdevice) and personal computing device 501 b (i.e., the second electronicdevice) may respectively perform acts to establish wirelesscommunications with one another as summarized in FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 is a flow-diagram showing a method 600 of establishing wirelesscommunications between a first electronic device and a second electronicdevice in accordance with the present systems, devices, and methods.Method 600 may be viewed as a combination of method 100 and method 300with the acts of method 100 being performed by the first electronicdevice and the acts of method 300 being performed by the secondelectronic device. Accordingly, many of the descriptions of the acts andcriteria of methods 100 and 300 similarly apply in the context of method600. For example, in method 600 the first electronic device may stilladvantageously include a portable electronic device (e.g., a wearableelectronic device) and the second electronic device may include apersonal computing device, such as a laptop computer or a desktopcomputer.

Method 600 includes seven acts 601, 602, 603, 604, 605, 606, and 607(depicted by rectangular boxes in FIG. 6) and three criteria 611, 612,and 613 (depicted by rounded boxes in FIG. 6). Acts 603 and 604 are onlyperformed when criterion 611 is satisfied, acts 605 and 606 are onlyperformed when act 603 is performed and criterion 612 is satisfied, andact 607 is only performed when act 606 is performed and criterion 613 issatisfied. Thus, FIG. 6 depicts an implementation of method 600 forwhich criteria 611, 612, and 613 are all satisfied. Those of skill inthe art will appreciate that in alternative embodiments certain actsand/or criteria may be omitted and/or additional acts and/or criteriamay be added. Those of skill in the art will also appreciate that theillustrated order of the acts and criteria is shown for exemplarypurposes only and may change in alternative embodiments. System 500 fromFIG. 5 is an example of a system that may implement method 600. For thepurposes of illustration, the description of method 600 that followsincludes references to various elements from system 500 in parentheses.

At 601, the first electronic device (501 a) provides the secondelectronic device (501 b) with access to a first identifier (531 a) viaa physical communications link (590) between the first and the secondelectronic devices. Act 601 is substantially similar to act 101 frommethod 100, and as described for act 101, act 601 may in someimplementations be triggered substantially autonomously in response toan establishing of the physical communications link (590) between thefirst and the second electronic devices. Such automatic triggering maybe effected by the processor (520 b) of the second electronic device(501 b) based on, for example, executing wireless communicationinstructions (531 b) stored in the second electronic device (501 b).

At 602, the second electronic device (501 b) receives the firstidentifier (531 a) from the first electronic device (501 a) via thephysical communications link (590) between the first and the secondelectronic devices. Act 602 is substantially similar to act 301 frommethod 300, and may in some implementations be substantially similar toact 401 from method 400 (i.e., subject to criterion 411).

At 611, a criterion is specified and this criterion must be met beforemethod 600 proceeds to act 603. The criterion is that the physicalcommunications link (590) between the first and the second electronicdevices must be terminated. Method 600 only proceeds to act 603 inresponse to a termination of the physical communications link (590)between the first and the second electronic devices. Criterion 611 issubstantially similar to criterion 110 from method 100, criterion 310from method 300, and criterion 412 from method 400.

At 603, the second electronic device (501 b) wirelessly transmits (e.g.,by a wireless transceiver 552 b) a request to initiate a wirelesscommunications session, where the request includes a representation ofthe first identifier (531 a) that the second electronic device (501 b)received at 602. Act 603 is substantially similar to act 302 from method300 and act 402 from method 400.

At 604, the first electronic device (501 a) wirelessly receives (e.g.,by a wireless transceiver 552 a) the request to initiate the wirelesscommunications session that was wirelessly transmitted by the secondelectronic device (501 b) at 603. Act 604 is substantially similar toact 102 from method 100.

At 612, a criterion is specified and this criterion must be met beforemethod 600 proceeds to act 605. The criterion is that the request toinitiate a wireless communications session must be received by the firstelectronic device (501 a) and the request must include the firstidentifier (531 a) that identifies the first electronic device (501 a).Method 600 only proceeds to act 605 in response to the first electronicdevice (501 a) identifying that the first identifier (531 a) is includedin the request to initiate a wireless communications session that thefirst electronic device (501 a) received from the second electronicdevice (501 b) at act 604.

At 605, the first electronic device (501 a) wirelessly transmits (e.g.,by wireless transceiver 552 a) an acceptance of the request to initiatea wireless communications session. As per criterion 612, this acceptanceis based on the inclusion of the first identifier (531 a, or arepresentation thereof) in the request itself. Act 605 is substantiallysimilar to an exemplary implementation of act 103 previously describedfor method 100.

At 606, the second electronic device (501 b) wirelessly receives (e.g.,by wireless transceiver 552 b) the acceptance wirelessly transmitted bythe first electronic device (501 a) at act 605. Act 606 is substantiallysimilar to an exemplary implementation of act 303 previously describedfor method 300.

At 613, a criterion is specified and this criterion must be met beforemethod 600 proceeds to act 607. The criterion is that the acceptance ofthe request to initiate a wireless communications session must bereceived by the second electronic device (501 b). Method 600 onlyproceeds to act 607 in response to the second electronic device (501 b)receiving the acceptance of the request to initiate a wirelesscommunications session that the first electronic device (501 a)transmitted at act 605.

At 607, the wireless communications session is established between thefirst electronic device (501 a) and the second electronic device (501b), meaning that the first electronic device (501 a) and the secondelectronic device (501 b) are “paired” and/or “connected” and maywirelessly exchange information in a substantially private, closedfashion (in the absence of reverse engineering the wireless signals) inaccordance with conventional wireless communication protocols, such asBluetooth, WiFi, Zigbee, etc.

As previously described, the various embodiments of systems, devices,and methods that establish wireless communications described above aredistinct from conventional approaches because they make use of aphysical communications link (i.e., a wired connection, like a USBconnection) to quickly and privately transmit device identityinformation from one device to another. The device identity informationis then immediately used in a pairing or “wireless connectionestablishment” process that is triggered when the physicalcommunications link (e.g., USB connection) is terminated. This conceptof “pairing over USB” greatly simplifies the initiation andestablishment of a wireless communications session because it eliminatesthe need for the devices to “discover” one another and for the user toselect/confirm that the correct device(s) have been discovered. Aparticular use case in which this approach is advantageous is providedin exemplary electronic system 500, where wireless communications areestablished between a portable electronic device 501 a and a personalcomputing device 501 b. In this case, portable electronic device 501 ais a human-computer interface device that may use the wirelesscommunications session to control personal computing device 501 b.However, portable electronic device 501 a also already uses a physicalcommunications link with personal computing device 501 b for variouspurposes, such as charging one or more batteries (260) on-board device501 a, running diagnostics on device 501 a, installing data, software,or firmware on device 501 a, and so on. In particular, some or all ofthese purposes may be necessary as soon as portable electronic device501 a is first activated. Given that portable electronic device 501 arequires a wireless connection with personal computing device 501 b foroperation, and that portable electronic device 501 a requires a wiredconnection with personal computing device 501 b in order to be firstinitialized, it is particularly advantageous to substantiallyautonomously establish a wireless communications session between the twodevices in response to establishing and then terminating the physicalcommunications link (i.e., wired connection) therebetween that is firstused to initialize portable electronic device 501 a.

As described above, a portable electronic device may rely on a physicalcommunications link with another electronic device, such as a personalcomputing device, for initial setup (i.e., “out of the box”) andcharging. A portable electronic device typically includes at least oneon-board power storage component (e.g., battery), and the device istypically shipped by the manufacturer in one of two states: either withthe power storage component charged or empty. In the case of the powerstorage component being charged, the stored power is typically graduallyconsumed over time so the end-user is likely to receive the device inits “empty” or “without on-board power” state by the time the end-userpurchases and unboxes the device. This has the undesirable consequenceof forcing the user to wait for the device to charge before the devicecan be used, and can also cause the execution of some of thesubstantially autonomous wireless communication methods described hereinto be delayed until the portable electronic device has access tosufficient power. For at least these reasons, it is advantageous to ship(i.e., from the manufacturer to the end-user, through any number ofintervening consignees or distributors) a portable electronic device ina “deep sleep” mode in which at least one power storage component of thedevice is at least partially charged but the power storage component iselectrically/logically decoupled from consumptive elements of theportable electronic device. The various embodiments described hereininclude systems, devices, and methods for substantially autonomouslyactivating an electronic device out of a deep sleep mode in response toan establishing of a physical communications link (i.e., a wiredconnection) between the electronic device and a source of electric power(such as another electronic device).

FIG. 7 is a flow-diagram showing a method 700 of activating a portableelectronic device out of deep sleep in accordance with the presentsystems, devices and methods. In order to carry out method 700, theportable electronic device includes a processor (e.g., a microprocessoror microcontroller), a power storage component (e.g., a battery), atethered connector port communicatively coupled to the processor, and aswitch that is communicatively coupleable to both the processor and thepower storage component. The switch is controllably switchable between afirst state in which the power storage component and the processor arecommunicatively isolated from one another and a second state in whichthe power storage component and the processor are communicativelycoupled to one another. The portable electronic device is in a deepsleep mode in which i) the power storage component is at least partiallycharged, and ii) the switch is in the first state in which the powerstorage component and the processor are communicatively isolated fromone another.

Method 700 includes one act 701 (depicted by a rectangular box in FIG.7) and one criterion 710 (depicted by a rounded box in FIG. 7). Act 701is only performed when criterion 710 is satisfied; thus, FIG. 7 depictsan implementation of method 700 for which criterion 710 is satisfied.Those of skill in the art will appreciate that in alternativeembodiments certain acts and/or criteria may be omitted and/oradditional acts and/or criteria may be added.

At 710, a criterion is specified and this criterion must be met beforemethod 700 proceeds to act 701. The criterion is that a physicalcommunications link must be established between the portable electronicdevice and a source of electric power. The source of electric power maybe a wall power outlet or it may be another electronic device (such as apersonal computing device), and the physical communications link may bein the form of a communicative cable, such as a USB cable. Method 700only proceeds to act 701 in response to an establishing of the physicalcommunications link between the portable electronic device and a sourceof electric power.

At 701, the switch is triggered into the second state in which the powerstorage component and the processor are communicatively coupled to oneanother. Triggering of the switch is accomplished in direct response tothe establishing of the physical communications link between theportable electronic device and the source of electric power. As anexample, the switch may be triggered when a (micro-)USB cable is pluggedinto the tethered connector port of the portable electronic device andthe tethered connector port receives power via the USB cable. In orderfor the tethered connector port to receive power via the USB cable, theUSB cable must also be plugged into a tethered connector port of thesource of electric power (e.g., a USB port of a personal computingdevice).

Wearable gesture identification device 200 from FIG. 2 also serves as anexample of a portable electronic device operative to substantiallyautonomously activate out of deep sleep in response to establishing aphysical communications link in accordance with the present systems,devices, and methods. Returning to FIG. 2, device 200 includes a powercontrol circuit 240 that communicatively couples to the processor 220,the power storage component (e.g., battery) 260, and the tetheredconnector port 251. Power control circuit 240 includes the switchdescribed in method 700. In response to a (micro-)USB cable beingplugged into tethered connector port 251, with the other end of thecable being plugged into a source of electric power such as a personalcomputing device, device 200 performs act 701 and the switch in powercontrol circuit 240 activates device 200 out of deep sleep bycommunicatively coupling processor 220 to power storage component 260.More details of an exemplary power control circuit 240 are nowdescribed.

FIG. 8 is an illustrative schematic diagram of a power control circuit800 that substantially autonomously activates an electronic device outof deep sleep in response to an establishing of a physicalcommunications link with a source of electric power in accordance withthe present systems, devices, and methods. Power control circuit 800provides an example of an implementation of circuit 240 from device 200.A person of skill in the art will appreciate that FIG. 8 is a simplifiedillustration of a circuit schematic and many details of circuit 800 arenot shown for ease of illustration and to reduce clutter.

Circuit 800 includes a tethered connector port (e.g., a USB port) 851(analogous to port 251 of device 200 in FIG. 2), a power storagecomponent (e.g., a battery) 860 (analogous to power storage component260 of device 200 in FIG. 2), and a processor (e.g., a microcontroller)820 (analogous to processor 220 of device 200 in FIG. 2), all of whichare communicatively coupled to a switch 840. In the illustrated example,switch 840 is a D flip-flop, though a person of skill in the art willappreciate that in alternative implementations a different form ofswitch may be employed. A brief description of the operation ofexemplary circuit 800 is now provided, though a person of skill in theart will appreciate that circuit 800 is provided only as an example of apower control circuit that may be implemented to perform method 700 andthat method 700 may be performed using other forms of power controlcircuits.

With battery 860 at least partially charged (e.g., at the point ofmanufacture of a device that includes circuit 800, such as device 200),microcontroller 820 may enter the device into deep sleep by triggeringthe “pwr off” signal illustrated in FIG. 8. This “pwr off” signal entersswitch 840 into the previously-described “first state” in which battery860 and microcontroller 820 are communicatively isolated from oneanother (a person of skill in the art will appreciate that battery 860may still be communicatively coupled to switch 840 via paths notillustrated in FIG. 8 in order to provide power to switch 840). With thedevice (e.g., device 200) in deep sleep, the manufacturer may ship thedevice. When the device is received by an end-user, the user activatesthe device out of deep sleep by connecting USB port 851 to a source ofelectric power, such as to a personal computing device, through a USBcable (i.e., a physical communications link). The presence of electricpower at USB port 851 substantially autonomously triggers switch 840into its second state in which battery 860 is communicatively coupled tomicrocontroller 820. Specifically, an output of battery 860 is routedthrough switch 840 and communicatively coupled to input “vcc_en” ofmicrocontroller 820. Receipt of power at vcc_en toggles microcontroller820 out of deep sleep and activates the device. Exemplary component 870is a “Schmitt trigger” that is used to remove noise from and essentiallydigitize the power signal coming from USB port 851.

As previously described, circuit 800 may be modified in many differentways and still provide the functionality necessary to perform method700. As an example, circuit 800 may be extended to include at least oneuser-actuated button to enable the user to activate the correspondingdevice out of deep sleep without relying on establishing a physicalcommunications link with a source of electric power. Such a button may,for example, interrupt the coupling between ground and the “>” input ofswitch 840 in conjunction with a parallel coupling between the “>” inputof switch 840 and the battery 860.

The various embodiments described herein provide systems, devices, andmethods for establishing wireless communications and for activating outof deep sleep, both in response to establishing/terminating a physicalcommunications link. While these concepts may be applied in anyelectronic devices, they are particularly advantageous when applied inportable electronic devices. Most portable electronic devices availabletoday rely on a physical communications link with a personal computingdevice for at least some aspect(s) of their operation (e.g., chargingpower, updating or configuring software/firmware, and so on). Inparticular, establishing a physical communications link with a personalcomputing device is commonly the first thing a user is instructed to dowith a new portable electronic device right out of the box (at least forpurposes of charging the device and/or installing updates that may havebecome available since the device was packaged by the manufacturer). Forportable electronic devices that also make use of wirelesscommunications with the personal computing device for at least somefunction(s) (such as interface devices like exemplary device 200), it isparticularly advantageous to combine the technique(s) for establishingwireless communications and the technique(s) for activating out of deepsleep described herein. Such a combination can greatly facilitate theout-of-box initialization process and thereby enhance the overall userexperience of operating such a portable electronic device.

As examples of the combination described above, methods 100, 300, 400,600, and 700 are now revisited. Returning to FIG. 1, method 100 may beextended to include receiving electric power from the second electronicdevice by the first electronic device via the physical communicationslink between the first and the second electronic devices. In response toreceiving this electric power, the first electronic device may wake fromdeep sleep (e.g., by performing act 701 of method 700) and then proceedto perform acts 101, 102, and 103.

Returning to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, method 300 and method 400 may both beextended to include transmitting electric power from the secondelectronic device to the first electronic device via the physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devices,and (as a result thereof) causing the first electronic device to wakefrom a deep sleep mode.

Returning to FIG. 6, method 600 may be extended to include transmittingelectric power from the second electronic device via the physicalcommunications link between the first and the second electronic devicesand receiving electric power by the first electronic device via thephysical communications link between the first and the second electronicdevices. In response to receiving this electric power, the firstelectronic device may wake from a deep sleep mode (e.g., by performingact 701 of method 700) and then proceed to perform acts 601, 604, 605,and 607.

Returning to FIG. 7, the portable electronic device may include awireless transceiver and method 700 may be extended to include all ofmethod 100. Specifically, method 700 may be extended to include acts101, 102, and 103, as well as criterion 110, of method 100.

The above description of illustrated embodiments, including what isdescribed in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limitthe embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Although specificembodiments of and examples are described herein for illustrativepurposes, various equivalent modifications can be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the disclosure, as will be recognized bythose skilled in the relevant art. The teachings provided herein of thevarious embodiments can be applied to other electronic devices, notnecessarily the exemplary wearable electronic devices and/or personalcomputing devices generally described above.

For instance, the foregoing detailed description has set forth variousembodiments of the devices and/or processes via the use of blockdiagrams, schematics, and examples. Insofar as such block diagrams,schematics, and examples contain one or more functions and/oroperations, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that eachfunction and/or operation within such block diagrams, flowcharts, orexamples can be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a widerange of hardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combinationthereof. In one embodiment, the present subject matter may beimplemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs).However, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodimentsdisclosed herein, in whole or in part, can be equivalently implementedin standard integrated circuits, as one or more computer programsexecuted by one or more computers (e.g., as one or more programs runningon one or more computer systems), as one or more programs executed by onone or more controllers (e.g., microcontrollers) as one or more programsexecuted by one or more processors (e.g., microprocessors, centralprocessing units, graphical processing units), as firmware, or asvirtually any combination thereof, and that designing the circuitryand/or writing the code for the software and or firmware would be wellwithin the skill of one of ordinary skill in the art in light of theteachings of this disclosure.

When logic is implemented as software and stored in memory, logic orinformation can be stored on any non-transitory processor-readablemedium for use by or in connection with any processor-related system ormethod. In the context of this disclosure, a non-transitory memory is anelectronic, magnetic, optical, or other physical device or means thatmay be processor-readable and may contain or store a computer and/orprocessor program. Logic and/or the information can be embodied in anyprocessor-readable medium for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as acomputer-based system, processor-containing system, or other system thatcan fetch the instructions from the instruction execution system,apparatus, or device and execute the instructions associated with logicand/or information.

In the context of this specification, a “non-transitoryprocessor-readable medium” can be any element that can store the programassociated with logic and/or information for use by or in connectionwith the instruction execution system, apparatus, and/or device. Thenon-transitory medium can be, for example, but is not limited to, anelectronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, orsemiconductor system, apparatus or device. More specific examples (anon-exhaustive list) of the non-transitory medium would include thefollowing: a portable computer diskette (magnetic, compact flash card,secure digital, or the like), a random access memory (RAM), a read-onlymemory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM, EEPROM,or Flash memory), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CDROM),digital tape, and other non-transitory media.

The various embodiments described above can be combined to providefurther embodiments. To the extent that they are not inconsistent withthe specific teachings and definitions herein, all of the U.S. patents,U.S. patent application publications, U.S. patent applications, foreignpatents, foreign patent applications and non-patent publicationsreferred to in this specification and/or listed in the Application DataSheet, including but not limited to: U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 62/085,385, US Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No.14/186,889 (now US Patent Application Publication No. 2014-0240103), USNon-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/276,575 (now US PatentApplication Publication No. 2014-0334083), U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 61/909,786 (now US Patent Application PublicationNo. 2015-0148641), U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.62/031,651 (now US Patent Application Publication No. 2015-0234426),U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/971,346 (now US PatentApplication Publication No. 2015-0277575), and US Non-Provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 14/465,194 (now US Patent Application PublicationNo. 2015-0057770), are incorporated herein by reference, in theirentirety. Aspects of the embodiments can be modified, if necessary, toemploy systems, circuits and concepts of the various patents,applications and publications to provide yet further embodiments.

These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of theabove-detailed description. In general, in the following claims, theterms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specificembodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should beconstrued to include all possible embodiments along with the full scopeof equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, theclaims are not limited by the disclosure.

1. An electronic device comprising: a tethered connector port; awireless transceiver; a processor; and a non-transitoryprocessor-readable storage medium communicatively coupled to each of thetethered connector port, the wireless transceiver, and the processor,wherein the non-transitory processor-readable storage medium storesprocessor-executable wireless communications initiation instructionsthat, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to:receive by the tethered connector port, via a physical communicationslink between the electronic device and another electronic device, anidentifier that identifies the other electronic device; in response to atermination of the physical communications link between the electronicdevice and the other electronic device, wirelessly transmit by thewireless transceiver a request to initiate a wireless communicationssession with the other electronic device, wherein the request toinitiate a wireless communications session includes a representation ofthe identifier that identifies the other electronic device; andestablish the wireless communications session with the other electronicdevice.
 2. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a secondtethered connector port, wherein the wireless transceiver is plugged into the second tethered connector port.
 3. The electronic device of claim1 wherein the processor-executable wireless communication initiationinstructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the electronicdevice to receive by the tethered connector port, via a physicalcommunications link between the electronic device and another electronicdevice, an identifier that identifies the other electronic device, causethe electronic device to retrieve, via the physical communications linkbetween the electronic device and another electronic device, theidentifier that identifies the other electronic device.
 4. An electronicdevice comprising: a tethered connector port; a wireless transceiver; aprocessor; and a non-transitory processor-readable storage mediumcommunicatively coupled to the processor and at least the tetheredconnector port, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable storagemedium stores i) an identifier that identifies the electronic device,and ii) processor-executable wireless communication instructions that,when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to: provideanother electronic device, via a physical communications link betweenthe electronic device and the other electronic device, the identifierthat identifies the electronic device; in response to a termination ofthe physical communications link between the electronic device and theother electronic device, wirelessly receive from the other electronicdevice a request to initiate a wireless communications session, whereinthe request to initiate a wireless communications session includes arepresentation of the identifier that identifies the electronic device;and establish the wireless communications session with the otherelectronic device.
 5. The electronic device of claim 4 wherein theprocessor-executable wireless communication instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the electronic device to provideanother electronic device, via a physical communications link betweenthe electronic device and the other electronic device, the identifierthat identifies the electronic device cause, when executed by theprocessor, the electronic device to provide the other electronic devicewith access to the non-transitory processor-readable storage medium thatstores the identifier that identifies the electronic device.
 6. Theelectronic device of claim 4 wherein the processor-executable wirelesscommunication instructions, when executed by the processor, furthercause the electronic device to: wirelessly transmit an acceptance of therequest to initiate the wireless communications session based oninclusion of the representation of the identifier that identifies theelectronic device in the request to initiate the wireless communicationssession.
 7. The electronic device of claim 4 wherein the electronicdevice includes a device selected from the group consisting of: aportable electronic device and a wearable electronic device.
 8. Theelectronic device of claim 4 wherein the identifier that identifies theelectronic device includes a media access control (“MAC”) address of theelectronic device.
 9. A method of activating a portable electronicdevice out of deep sleep, wherein the portable electronic deviceincludes a processor, a power storage component, a switchcommunicatively coupleable to both the processor and the power storagecomponent and which is controllably switchable between a first state inwhich the power storage component and the processor are communicativelyisolated from one another and a second state in which the power storagecomponent and the processor are communicatively coupled to one another,and a tethered connector port communicatively coupled to the processor,and wherein the portable electronic device is in a deep sleep mode inwhich i) the power storage component is at least partially charged, andii) the switch is in the first state in which the power storagecomponent and the processor are communicatively isolated from oneanother, the method comprising: in response to an establishing of aphysical communications link between the tethered connector port and asource of electric power, triggering the switch into the second state inwhich the power storage component and the processor are communicativelycoupled to one another.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein the portableelectronic device includes a wireless transceiver and the source ofelectric power includes another electronic device, and wherein themethod further comprises: providing by the portable electronic device tothe other electronic device, via the physical communications linkbetween the portable electronic device and the other electronic device,an identifier that identifies the portable electronic device.
 11. Themethod of claim 10, further comprising: in response to a termination ofthe physical communications link between the portable electronic deviceand the other electronic device, wirelessly receiving by the portableelectronic device from the other electronic device a request to initiatea wireless communications session, wherein the request to initiate awireless communications session includes a representation of theidentifier that identifies the portable electronic device; andestablishing the wireless communications session with the otherelectronic device by the portable electronic device.
 12. A portableelectronic device comprising: a processor; a power storage component,wherein the power storage component is at least partially charged andthe power storage component and the processor are communicativelyisolated from one another; a tethered connector port; and a powercontrol circuit that communicatively couples to the processor, the powerstorage component, and the tethered connector port, wherein the powercontrol circuit includes at least one switch, and wherein in response toan establishing of a physical communications link between the tetheredconnector port and a source of electric power, the at least one switchcommunicatively couples the processor and the power storage component toone another.
 13. The portable electronic device of claim 12 wherein theportable electronic device includes a wearable electronic device. 14.The portable electronic device of claim 12, further comprising: anon-transitory storage medium communicatively coupled to at least thefirst tethered connector port, wherein the non-transitory storage mediumstores an identifier that identifies the portable electronic device, andwherein in response to the establishing of the physical communicationslink between the tethered connector port and the source of electricpower, the portable electronic device provides the identifier via thephysical communications link.